4 injured circus acrobats to speak about accident

Four circus acrobats injured during a hair-hanging stunt were expected to discuss the accident that sent them plummeting to the ground during a live performance in Rhode Island.

The Associated Press

BOSTON — Four circus acrobats injured during a hair-hanging stunt were expected to discuss the accident that sent them plummeting to the ground during a live performance in Rhode Island.

The four were to speak on Tuesday at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston, although that number could change depending on their conditions, said their lawyer, Michael Krzak.

Eight acrobats were injured during a May 4 performance of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus in Providence when the apparatus from which they were suspended fell, sending them plummeting to the ground. Most have not spoken publicly about the accident and their injuries.

Krzak said on Monday that seven of the women recently hired his firm, Chicago-based Clifford Law Offices. The eighth acrobat has hired her own local lawyer, he said.

While the firm has not yet filed any lawsuits, he said it is conducting an in-depth investigation into what happened. He said the firm is waiting to get access to several pieces of evidence, including a broken carabiner clip, which held up the mechanism that suspended the women and which local investigators said snapped into three pieces.

The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration is still investigating the accident.

Samantha Pitard, 23, a native of Champaign, Illinois, who was less severely injured than the others with fractures on her spine and a head injury, is among those who hired Krzak. She told The Associated Press last month that every circus performer knows they are risking their lives every time they perform, and it's a risk they take to make people happy. She said she hoped to return to the ring someday.